Metallic bellows are used in many applications and/or devices such as pressure sensors, volume compensators, rod or shaft seals, torque couplings and flexible joints. One type of bellows, the welded metallic bellows, is formed from a plurality of thin metallic ring shaped diaphragms which are welded together. Other types of metallic bellows may be formed by convoluting the wall of a thin-walled metallic tube. In general, the resulting bellows assembly is "customed designed" for a particular application. That is, the specific application determines the dimensions and physical properties of the resulting bellows assembly. Because of the diversity of applications, there is a lack of standardization among bellows assemblies causing such assemblies to be very costly, thus minimizing and/or preventing the use of metallic bellows in many applications in which they might otherwise be readily employed.
Because of the foregoing limitations with respect to the prior art, it has become desirable to develop a modular approach to fabricating and assembling bellows assemblies so as to substantially reduce the cost of the resulting assemblies and make the assemblies readily and easily available for field installation.